


When We Stand Together

by Challenger



Series: Fated Souls [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-14
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-07 17:43:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/433725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Challenger/pseuds/Challenger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aly Rose lived a normal life until she was saved by Bumblebee. Now friends with the Autobots, she must keep their existance a secret. Unfortunately a government group is making that a bit tricky and to make matters worse a Decepticon is stirring up trouble for everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock._ The rhythmic ticking of the clock, the humid air, and her teacher's droning voice were slowly lulling Aly Rose to sleep. Quickly she pinched her arm to try to wake herself up. Aly let out a small sigh, why did time have to be against her on a Friday? Her freedom was only mere moments away, but it felt like time was stopping. She took a quick glance out the classroom window to see if a yellow and black Camaro was still parked outside. When she saw that it was still in fact parked there, she turned her attention back to her teacher's lecture. Aly kept imagining that one day her Camaro was just going to disappear and she would discover that the past four weeks had just been a dream. That she hadn't really almost been killed by a giant alien robot and had been rescued by another. That the robot that had rescued her was called Bumblebee and he could transform into a Camaro. That Bumblebee hadn't taken her to meet the other Autobots on Earth, Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and Ironhide. It was too unbelievable to actually be true. But it was, and that fact never ceased to amaze her. Of course, she was the only human that was actually aware of that. Her parents and friends at school were clueless to the fact that aliens even existed, and they never would believe that she was friends with some and that her car was one. Bumblebee wasn't just her car though; he was also her friend and guardian. The Autobot leader Optimus Prime had assigned him that role after she had met the Autobots.

"Mademoiselle Rose now is not the time to be off in La-La Land."

"Désolé Monsieur Burke," Aly replied in French, her face turning red from embarrassment.

Aly let her blue eyes look back up at the clock before focusing back on her teacher. Only three minutes left of class and then she could leave. Another weekend of hanging out with the Autobots was sure to be fun. Well at least for the most part. Aly was having a hard time getting along with the Autobot's weapons specialist Ironhide. He didn't like the fact that a human was hanging around the Autobot base, and he made no attempts at hiding that fact when Aly was around. It probably didn't help that she would get snippy with him whenever he started to be rude. If there was one thing Aly could not stand, it was rudeness.

_I should just bring Sherlock with me this weekend. I'm sure Ironhide would just love that,_ she thought to herself.

Her parents had given her a small grey and white kitten a few days before she had met Bumblebee and she had named him Sherlock after Sherlock Holmes. She had brought him over to the Autobot base once and he had tried to climb on Ironhide the entire time. It had annoyed Ironhide to no end and Aly had had a hard time trying not to laugh at the scene. She hadn't been the only one though judging by the look that had been on Bumblebee's face.

The sound of the bell ringing brought Aly out of her thoughts. She quickly grabbed her stuff and rushed out the door. After a quick stop at her locker she was outside heading towards the parking lot where Bumblebee was at.

"Hey 'Bee," she greeted right after she had climbed inside and closed the door.

"Hey Aly, how was school?"

"Same as always, which means it was extremely boring."

"Really? I think school sounds interesting."

"You wouldn't think that if you went to it. Wait, did you guys not have school back on Cybertron?" Aly asked.

"I don't know if there were any or not. I came online after the war had already started and there weren't any schools then. Maybe there were some before the war started; you would have to ask Optimus, Ratchet, or Ironhide about it."

"I might ask them sometime. So what's on the agenda for this weekend?"

"I don't know yet. Do you have any martial arts stuff this weekend?"

Aly smiled. She had been taking martial arts lessons ever since she was six after her mother had heard that martial arts could help kids with ADHD focus better. Lessons were usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but occasionally she would go to the gym and practice some on the weekends.

"No, I'm taking a break this weekend. So any Decepticon attacks lately?" Aly asked brushing a strand of her red hair out of her eyes before looking out the window to see if she saw her friend Zoe coming yet.

"So far there hasn't been any sign of them at all."

"I suppose it's too much to hope that they've decided to just up and leave Earth?" Aly sighed.

"Probably," Bumblebee replied. "But in a way it's a good thing that they haven't left. If the 'Cons leave, we'll probably have to leave too."

"That would suck. I don't want you guys to leave."

"Really, not even Ironhide?"

"Well now that you mention him… nah I guess not, though there are times I do wish he wasn't here."

"Ironhide will lighten up eventually Aly. Just give it time. Besides the two of you have stuff in common already."

"What?"

"Well you both can't stand each other and you both can have bad tempers," Bumblebee teased.

"Gee that makes me feel so much closer to him," Aly rolled her eyes. She took another look out the window and saw Zoe heading towards them. "Here comes Zoe, we better stop talking now."

A few seconds later Zoe opened up the passenger door and climbed inside.

"Hey Alley Cat, not good to be talking to yourself in public. I'm your friend and I love you, so I'll overlook it, but you know how other people can be."

"Well you know I had to answer the voices running through my head. Wait. Alley Cat?" Aly questioned.

"That's my new nickname for you. Your name is Aly and you have a cat, so Alley Cat," Zoe explained.

"Technically Aly is my nickname since my full name is Alyson."

"Yeah but your parents and some of the teachers at school are the only ones who call you that, so Aly is really more your name than Alyson," Zoe pointed out.

"Whatever you say Zoe," Aly sighed in defeat. "What took you so long to get out here?"

"Ugh your French teacher, that's what. He caught me somewhat running in the hallway, so I had to hear him say, 'Miss Smith, the hallways are not for running. Walk in them like you are supposed to.'. Hello, it is Friday afternoon and I do have a life."

What sounded like a small chuckle drew Zoe's eyes to the Camaro's radio. Zoe Smith had always been told that she had good instincts. Her dad liked to joke with her that no one would ever be able to trick her because she would be able to tell if there was something she wasn't being told. Zoe normally would agree with her dad, but lately she wasn't so sure about that. Zoe had been close friends with Aly since she was three and Aly was two. They told each other everything and didn't keep secrets from each other… or at least that's what Zoe thought. Lately she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something that her friend wasn't telling her and she felt like it had something to do with Aly's Camaro. It was silly, but she really thought that there was something weird about it. There would be times that she or Aly would say something and then suddenly the radio would cut off. Aly would always shrug it off and say that the car had radio problems, but Zoe wasn't so sure. It had always struck her odd that Aly had been able to afford a brand new Camaro with the price range her dad have given her. It wasn't that Aly's family couldn't afford a new Camaro, Zoe was sure that Thomas and Elizabeth Rose made enough money for one, they just didn't like to show it off. Aly's story had always seemed farfetched to Zoe as well. Some guy just randomly happened to be selling a brand new Camaro and dropped the price so a sixteen year old girl could buy it? That was something that didn't happen every day. But Zoe decided to ignore it and trust Aly. She knew her friend enough to know she wouldn't do something stupid like steal a car – she had to have bought it somehow. But every time Aly gave Zoe a ride home, she would get this weird feeling that there was something about it that she wasn't being told.

"I swear at times I feel like this car is haunted or something," Zoe muttered.

"Don't be ridiculous Zoe. There are no such things as ghosts and even if there were, this car is pretty new and I'm pretty sure no one has died in it," Aly replied, giving a small glare to the steering wheel.

"Whatever, but maybe that explains why that guy let you have it so cheap. You might want to think about that when your car is randomly switching radio stations. So what are you going to do this weekend?" Zoe asked while she pulled her blonde hair back into a ponytail.

"Umm I'll probably just hang around here," Aly said. "What about you?"

"My mom is taking me and Abby to the beach tomorrow. She says it'll be good for the two of us to get some Vitamin D. You should come with us Aly. Nothing interesting ever happens here, you'll die of boredom. Plus you're paler than me, you need some sun."

"I can't get a tan without getting a ton of freckles, you know that. Besides I'm sure I'll find something interesting to do here," Aly smiled.

The smile on her friend's face made Zoe feel like there was some joke she was missing. After that the two girls remained in an uncomfortable silence for the rest of the way to Zoe's house. When they arrived, Zoe quickly hoped out and told Aly that she would talk to her later and if she changed her mind about the beach to give her a call. As soon as Aly drove away Zoe walked up to the door of her house. When she discovered that the door was unlocked, she realized that something was not right. Her mom wasn't home from work yet and Abby was still at daycare, there was no reason for the door to be unlocked. What if someone had broken into her house and there was a chance that they were still there. Maybe she was being too paranoid, she did watch quite a few crime shows. It could just be her Aunt Maggie coming over to visit. Yeah, that was probably what it was.

Hesitantly she opened up the door and stepped inside. Next to the door there was an umbrella that her mom kept in case it was raining. Zoe picked it up and held on to it tightly as she started through the house. It wasn't much of a weapon, but she needed something to defend herself with if she was attacked. When she entered the living room, she found her intruder. Sitting in one of the chairs was a man that she had never seen before in her life.

"W-who are you?" Zoe demanded fighting, and failing, to keep her voice steady.

"Miss Smith," the man said standing up. "I'm from a government group called Sector Seven. I need to ask you a few questions."

"You didn't answer my question," Zoe said taking a few steps back.

"You don't ask the questions Miss Smith. I ask the questions. And you will answer the questions I ask. But if it makes you feel better, I'm Agent Simmons. Now my next question may seem a little strange, but have you recently noticed any strange activities?"

"Strange? Are you serious? This is like the most boring place on Earth. Nothing strange ever happens here," she scoffed. "Where's my mom? I shouldn't be answering any questions without her here, so stay back." Zoe popped up the umbrella and pointed it at Simmons.

"It's bad luck to open an umbrella indoors. As for your mother being here, there shouldn't be a problem as long as you're not trying to cover up something. That would be a mistake to cover up anything. Do you want to go to college Miss Smith? Get out of this little place and go somewhere exciting? Because if you lie to me or cover up any vital information I need, I'll make sure there's not a college in the world that will accept you. Not even clown college. Now I'm going to ask you again Miss Smith. Are you sure you can't think of anything odd that's happened?"

"The strangest thing that has happened here is that my best friend was able to buy a brand new Camaro from some guy who practically just gave it to her and I think the car could possibly be possessed. Nothing I'm sure you are interested in. Actually scratch that, the strangest thing is having some random guy break into my house, claim that he's from the government and start asking me questions and threatening me. I make good grades and I am a good student. You can't keep me out of college! My parents have been planning on me going to college since before I was born!"

"This Camaro, could you describe it?" Simmons asked, ignoring the last part of what Zoe had said.

"It's a new model I think. It's yellow with black stripes and has a few little decals – I think that's what they're called – on the sides that look like some sort of face. It has radio problems apparently because it will occasionally turn off by itself. I don't know much about cars so that's all I can tell you. "

"Interesting. Do you have any pictures of this vehicle?"

"No."

"I see. Do you think that this car could possibly be a NBE?"

"A what?" Zoe questioned. "I told you it's a Camaro."

"A Non-Biological Extraterrestrial," Simmons sighed. _Uneducated kids, they really needed to be teaching these sorts of things in the curriculum these days._

"Like ET? Something like that?" Zoe asked. "Are you on something? Aliens do not exist and Aly's car is not one. I don't know what you want, please leave."

"You're wrong about the aliens Miss Smith. Here's my card, call me if you find something suspicious. Your information could be valuable. Princeton, Harvard, Yale. I can make it happen for you. Think about it. Think about it really hard."

Zoe stepped back clutching her umbrella and pointing it at Simmons as he walked out of the house. She waited until he was out of sight before looking down at the card in her hand. She started to crumple it up before she stopped herself. She didn't believe in aliens and had no plans on ever calling this Agent Simmons dude, but she wanted to have proof whenever she told Aly about this. Zoe imagined that her friend was going to get a kick out of some dude thinking that her car was actually somehow an alien.

"Sector Seven," Zoe said to herself. "Never heard of it. Time to Google."


	2. Chapter 2

Starscream hated monitor duty. As Air Commander and Second-in-Command of the Decepticon army, there were plenty of duties he should have, but monitor duty should not be one of them. He was part of Megatron's elite and one day, once the Decepticon leader's spark had finally been extinguished, he would be leader of the Decepticons. He should not be degraded to a task such as monitor duty! There were plenty of other lower ranking Decepticons that would be better suited to the job, but no Megatron was forcing him to do it instead. Of course being on monitor duty wasn't the worst thing at the moment.

"Monitor duty is so dull," another voice sighed.

No, being stuck on monitor duty with Moonraider was _much_ worse than monitor duty itself. The purple and blue femme was the Decepticon's newest arrival on the forsaken planet they were currently stuck on. Moonraider was an espionage agent and, in Starscream's opinion, a very poor one at that. Every single mission of hers had been a failure and yet somehow she was still online. If he had had that many failures Megatron would have deactivated him by now. But then again, Moonraider had never been on Megatron's personal team before. Things would be changing for her now.

"Isn't there anyone else who could do this?" Moonraider asked. "I have better things to do."

"And I don't? If anyone should be complaining about being on monitor duty, it should be me. This is a perfect task for you though Moonraider. After all how could you possibly mess this up?"

Moonraider's violet optics narrowed at the Seeker's comment. Oh how she loathed him. It wasn't like she was the only one who had failed a few missions in the past. She knew that Starscream had his own fair share of failures as well. The only difference is that Starscream could fail and still have a high rank. But Moonraider on the other hand, was just tossed aside and seen as worthless whenever she failed. It wasn't fair! Of course the word fair really didn't matter in the Decepticon army. It was survival of the fittest for them. And the fact that she was still alive was proof that Moonraider was no fool. The others were the ones who were fools and soon it would be proved to them.

"At least all of my failures haven't been on our leader's life Starscream," Moonraider smirked. "I'm amazed that Megatron still lets you live after all the times you have tried to kill him. It's no wonder your brothers haven't arrived here yet. They probably don't want to get caught up in your schemes and are just avoiding having to be around you. Can't say that I blame them."

"Silence femme! Thundercracker and Skywarp are not avoiding coming here and your company is no pleasure either," Starscream said standing up and walking over to her.

_Ooh he's mad now. This should be fun_ , Moonraider thought to herself.

"At least I haven't been beat by a youngling," she chuckled. "From what I hear you couldn't kill a human because the Autobot's scout stopped you. How embarrassing for the Decepticon SIC. I only wish I could have been there to see it myself."

Before Moonraider could do anything else, Starscream had grabbed her by the neck – threatening to crush it at any moment.

"S-struck a nerve have I?" she asked, struggling to speak. "I-I didn't take you to be the type to copy Megatron."

Starscream tightened his grip for a moment before letting her go.

"Of course I really shouldn't be too surprised. As the humans say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Moonraider said.

Before Starscream could react she rushed out of the room. She was smart enough to know not to stick around after insulting Starscream. While most Decepticons she had been around most of the time would not take being compared to the Decepticon leader as much as an insult, it was no secret that Starscream hated it. The Seeker viewed himself as superior to Megatron, though none of the Decepticons viewed him that way. There was a time when Moonraider had wondered what had caused Starscream to start thinking that way, but it no longer mattered. If everything went according to plan, the Decepticons would not matter at all.

Moonraider quickly entered her quarters and made sure that there were no cameras hidden within the room. While she had not been onboard the _Nemesis_ very long, she did know that Soundwave was the eyes and ears of the Decepticons and nothing happened onboard the ship without him knowing about it. How he was able to do it, Moonraider had no idea. But she was assuming that there was a chance that cameras were involved, so she took extra care to make sure there weren't any in her own room. She didn't have the luxury of being able to do that anywhere else on the ship, especially when she was in the same room as Starscream.

Once she was satisfied that she wasn't being watched, Moonraider walked over to a small console that was in her room. The console was hidden slightly to keep suspicions should some unwelcome visitor come inside. Located on it was a data-stream of information from one of the humans' government groups. While she wasn't really all that interested in the humans' government, she found this group rather intriguing. They apparently specialized in aliens, and according to the information she had found about them, they currently had two in their custody. From the sounds of things, it appeared that they were possibly Cybertronians. Moonraider knew that eventually she was going to have to pay these humans a visit, but that could wait for a while longer. She had discovered the human group shortly after she arrived on Earth – before she had met up with the other Decepticons. It was then that she begun to form her plan.

She would pass along bits and pieces of information to Sector Seven anonymously to get them on the right track. In exchange whenever she decided to go visit them, she would make a deal with them to help her get rid of a few troublesome 'Bots and 'Cons. She would let the humans do whatever they wanted to do with them as long as they left her alone. And then when the humans grew out of their usefulness to her, she would simply dispose of them. Of course should something happen that her plan not work out for her, she could use the information that she had found to try to gain Megatron's favor. After all the two captured Cybertronians could be useful soldiers to the Decepticon cause. Either way, as far as Moonraider could tell, this was going to be a win-win situation for her.


	3. Chapter 3

Saturday mornings were a time to sleep in late. Or at least that's what Aly had thought before she met the Autobots. As it turned out, a day on Cybertron was longer than that of one on Earth. Add to the fact that Cybertronians didn't sleep, or recharge as Ratchet called it, as long as a human did, Aly's weekend sleeping time was greatly reduced. Of course Bumblebee did try his best to make sure that she did get to sleep a little later than she usually got to during the week, but even then it was still earlier than what Aly was used to. And this Saturday was proving to be no exception. The sounds of tapping coming from the window and Sherlock meowing woke her up at seven o'clock in the morning. Aly groaned and pulled her pillow over her head, trying to drown out the noise. Unfortunately it was a futile attempt and she soon found herself sitting up and glaring over at the window. She waited a few minutes before she actually got out of bed and walked over to open the window.

"I was kind of hoping to sleep later than this 'Bee."

"Sorry Aly," Bumblebee said sheepishly. "I just wanted to tell you that I think that you should go to the beach with Zoe today."

"Why?"

"I was just reading something on the internet about how people shouldn't ditch their friends for new ones. You said that you and Zoe have been friends for a long time right? Well I don't want to come between the two of you."

"You're not going to come between us Bumblebee. Wait… why were you looking that up?" Aly questioned, racking her brain of any times that she had ditched Zoe. Besides the beach none came to mind.

"I was bored and I knew you wouldn't be up for another few hours," Bumblebee replied.

"You guys need to figure out how to sleep longer."

"That's not really possible Aly. Besides, I  _do_ recharge longer than Optimus and the others. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm still a youngling."

"Youngling?" she asked.

There were quite a few things that Aly didn't quite understand about the Cybertronians, mostly because she didn't ask. The answers to the few things she had asked had went over her head, and she decided that she wasn't going to ask anything unless she felt like it was important for her to know.

"A youngling is an adolescent on Cybertron."

"So you're still a kid then?"

"Pretty much. If I was a human I would probably be around your age if not a little younger."

"Really? You don't really act like it."

"I had to grow up fast," Bumblebee shrugged. "Now about you going to the beach…"

"Do you want to go to the beach 'Bee? You really want me to go."

"I would like to go, but I can't. I have training with Ironhide and I thought that you might would rather spend time with Zoe than with Ironhide."

"Good point. I think I'll give Zoe a call," Aly said picking up the phone. A quick look at the clock made her put it back down. "I should probably wait another hour before I call her. I don't think she'll be up yet."

* * *

"No human today?" Ironhide asked when he saw Bumblebee enter the base alone.

"No, Aly is going to the beach with one of her friends today," Bumblebee replied as he transformed. "She might want to come over later though."

"How exactly are you supposed to be guarding her if you're not with her Bumblebee?" Ratchet questioned.

"The Decepticons haven't gone after her once since she met us and the beach is a very public place. They've been keeping a low profile like just like we are, so I think she'll be fine there. And I told her to call if something happened," Bumblebee explained to the medic. "Where's Optimus?"

"Out on patrol."

Bumblebee watched as Ratchet resumed his focus on something he had been working on when Bumblebee had first come in. The scout was curious about what it was, but decided to ask about it later. He still had training with Ironhide, and Bumblebee knew from past experiences that it was better to get straight to it instead of putting it off until later.

"So what are we doing today 'Hide?" Bumblebee asked turning to face the weapons specialist.

"Weapons training, you need to work on your aim," he gruffly replied.

Bumblebee had to suppress a sigh of relief. While training with Ironhide was never a fun thing to do, weapons training was the only one where you were guaranteed not to end up getting the slag beat out of you. Well unless you had a melee weapon that is – which Bumblebee currently did not have. Plus Ironhide did have a point on him needing to work on his aim. With Bumblebee's only weapons being firearms, he needed to make sure that he could actually hit his target unless he wanted to go into hand-to-hand combat, something that wasn't smart for him to do unless his opponent was someone closer to his size.

"Okay let's go."

* * *

The bright sun glistened off of the ocean like diamonds, forcing Aly to have to lower her sunglasses to cover her eyes. She tried to remember when the last time she had been to the beach was. It had actually been a while because of how busy her dad was. She had taken going to the beach for granted but realized now how much she missed it. Of course going to the beach with Zoe's family was a lot different than going with her own. How Zoe was able to stand listening to Abby's favorite music for an entire hour was beyond her.

"Let's play princess!" Abby happily exclaimed. "Zoe's Cinderella, Aly's Ariel, and I'm Rapunzel!"

"Why do I have to be Ariel?" Aly asked.

"Cause you have red hair silly," Abby giggled.

"Abby why don't you help me build a sandcastle and let Zoe and Aly go off and do something else for a little while," Mrs. Smith suggested.

"Thanks mom," Zoe said before grabbing Aly's arm and dragging her off far enough away from prying eyes and ears.

Aly frowned at her friend's actions. Zoe had been pretty quiet during the drive to the beach and Aly had been friends with her long enough to know when she was frustrated. The only thing was that as far as Aly could tell, there was no reason for Zoe to even be frustrated. She had seemed fine yesterday, so what was with the sudden attitude change?

"What's up Zoe?"

"You tell me Aly."

"What are you talking about?"

"Yesterday there was some dude in my house saying that he was with the government and to get straight to the point, he thinks your car is an alien."

"What?" Aly's blue eyes widened. This could not be happening. The government couldn't possibly know about Bumblebee and the other Autobots. Could they?

"I didn't believe him at first," Zoe continued. "After all, your car being an alien is even crazier than my theory about it being possessed. But then I thought about it some more. There has always been something strange about that car and ever since you got it you've been acting weird…"

"Zoe you don't honestly believe that my car is an alien do you?" Aly interrupted fighting to mask the panic in her voice. "I mean that's crazy."

"I don't know if it's an alien or what it is, but something is not right with it. I think you need to give it back to the guy you bought it from Aly. It's gotten you mixed up in something bad and if the government is after it, well things cannot possibly end well."

"I'm not involved in anything bad."

Okay that was a little bit of a lie. Aly was technically involved in an alien war now and that really wasn't a good thing, though it wasn't Bumblebee's fault that she was involved. It was Starscream's fault for trying to kill her, which caused Bumble to rescue her. But she couldn't exactly tell that to Zoe, no matter how much she wanted to. It wasn't her secret to tell and she couldn't tell her unless the Autobots wanted her to know. Something that Aly was doubtful would happen for a while – especially if Zoe had been questioned about their existence by the government.

"Yeah right," Zoe rolled her eyes. "You're hiding something, I can tell."

"No I'm not, "Aly lied. Oh she really hated having to lie.

"Yes you are! If you weren't you would just get rid of that stupid car!"

"H-it's not stupid!" Aly snapped back.

"Yeah well maybe I should just call Simmons and have him check out your car himself!"

Aly felt her heart skip a beat at Zoe's words. She wouldn't really call Simmons, whom Aly was assuming was the man who had been in Zoe's house, would she?

"You can't call him Zoe. What if he was just some crazy guy who forgot to take his medicine? He might think that anything is an alien and do something insane," Aly said. Zoe remained silent. "At least think about it before you do it. It's a bad idea and you know it."

"Whatever," Zoe replied walking towards the ocean.

* * *

The second Aly got back to her driveway she opened up the door to Bumblebee's waiting alt-mode and climbed inside. She had to tell all of the Autobots about what Zoe had said. If the government was trying to track them down, they had a right to know.

"We need to go to the base 'Bee. I have something I have to tell all of you," Aly said.

"What?"

"Some guy from the government talked to Zoe." 

"About what?"

"Take a guess."

 


	4. Chapter 4

If Ironhide wasn't a giant alien robot made of metal, Aly would have punched him right then and there. As it was Ironhide  _was_ an alien robot made of metal and hitting him would only result in her hurting herself. But that didn't stop her from clenching her hands into fists and holding them by her side. She had known that out of all of the Autobots, Ironhide would be the one that would react to the Zoe/Government situation the worst, but she had not expected him to actually out right insult one of her best friends to her face. It wasn't Zoe's fault that the government had approached her! But no, Ironhide was clearly pissed and was going on about how Zoe was going to cause too many problems for them now. Aly glanced over at the other Autobots to see what their reactions were. Ratchet looked annoyed, Bumblebee looked worried (though whether it was towards the government problem or the inevitable confrontation between her and Ironhide, Aly wasn't sure), and Optimus looked as stoic as always.

"Zoe probably won't even call him!" she finally snapped. "She was just frustrated when she said that."

"She was mad at you? Well that settles it then-"

"Excuse me but do you know her Ironhide? Hmm, what's that? Yeah I didn't think so! I've been friends with Zoe since I was three, I know that when she's frustrated she'll get mad and say things she doesn't really mean. You guys don't know her at all! So don't go around assuming what she's going to do!"

For a moment Aly thought she saw a brief flash of sympathy on Optimus' face, but she didn't bother to dwell on it. Right now the room in the Autobots' base felt too small and she wanted nothing more than to get out of there at that very moment. She was mad and upset and tears were threatening to start pouring out of her eyes at any second. The last thing she wanted was for the Autobots to see her crying, so she did the first thing that popped into her mind. She ran out of the room.

"Aly!" Bumblebee called after her and was about to follow her himself when Optimus placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Let her go Bumblebee. She needs time to calm down," the Autobot leader explained.

"Why'd you have to upset her 'Hide?" Bumblebee asked. "She didn't know that the government was going to try to find out that we're here and she can't help that they talked to Zoe. Besides Aly's right, we don't really know Zoe."

"While that is a good point Bumblebee, we must also be vigilant. If the human government is trying to discover us we will have to be extra careful to ensure we do not raise any suspicions. That especially goes for you Bumblebee. You are around the humans more than the rest of us," Optimus stated. He turned his gaze to Ironhide. "And if we are discovered, we  _will_ require Alyson's assistance in dealing with the government. She is our only human ally and her help could be of great value. Upsetting her is not the right solution."

Bumblebee nodded his head before heading outside to find Aly. He figured a few minutes was enough time to leave her alone. And he knew her better than the others and knew that while having time alone was good, she also would want to vent.

He found her sitting in a tree a few feet away from the base. Aly had her head buried in her knees with her arms wrapped around them. As he got closer to her he noticed that her eyes were slightly red from where she had been crying.

"Aly?" Bumblebee bent down so he would be as close to eye level as possible with her.

"Do you think Zoe's going to call Simmons too?" she asked lifting her eyes up to meet Bumblebee's optics.

"Do you?"

"I honestly want to say no, but I'm scared that Ironhide's going to be right. Zoe and I rarely fight or argue. I mean she gets frustrated with other people more than she does with me. I don't know what she's going to do now. I've been best friends with her since I was three."

"Do you think hanging out with us will ruin your friendship with her?" Bumblebee quietly asked. He hoped that she would say no. While he didn't want Aly's friendship with Zoe to go south, he also didn't want to lose her. She was his best friend too.

"No! Well I mean there's probably going to be issues between us here and there as long as she's in the dark, but we'll find a way to work it out. It's just going to have to be something I add on to my list. Work things out with Zoe and deal with Ironhide being a jerk."

"Don't let 'Hide get you down. You just have to work to earn his respect."

"Great, that should be easy," Aly sarcastically muttered.

"You'll figure something out. After all you got me to like you," he teased.

"By freaking out because I was about to be killed by Starscream and then because a talking car was in front of my house? Somehow I don't think that's going to work with Ironhide."

"Actually I liked you because you were funny, but like I said, you'll figure something out. Oh I almost forgot, more Autobots are coming to Earth!"

"Really?" Aly perked up in interest, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Yeah they should be here in a day or two."

"Who's coming?"

"We don't know yet. Ratchet just picked up their signal earlier."

"Cool!" Aly grinned. More Autobots around would be fun, well unless they were all like Ironhide, but what were the chances of that happening? "You know maybe I should call Zoe and try to patch things up just to make sure that she won't call that Simmons guy. With more of you coming, it would probably be a good thing to make sure that she won't do something like that."

"That sounds like a good idea," Bumblebee said in agreement.

Aly pulled out her cellphone and punched in Zoe's number. After she didn't answer her cell, Aly called her house. Bumblebee watched as a frown formed on her face after she was finished talking.

"What's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"Nothing as far as I know. Zoe's just went out on a walk and left her phone at her house."

"That's bad?"

"Well I think I've established that walking around town alone can be a bad thing," she pointed out.

"You want to go try to find her?"

"I think it might be a good idea. You know just to be on the safe side."

* * *

Zoe sighed as she sat down on the ground. She was in a small isolated part of town that she and Aly had used as a shortcut before Aly got her Camaro. Actually after she had got the Camaro, Aly had pretty much flat out tried to avoid ever coming there again. Another mystery about her supposed best friend, but Zoe wasn't going to dwell too much on that mystery now. If Aly was avoiding this spot, it was the perfect spot for her to be alone and think. She pulled out her ponytail holder and let her hair down – making the blue streaks she had added to the bottom portion of her blonde hair stand out against her green tank top.

"What am I going to do?" she groaned.

She hadn't wanted to get mad at Aly, honestly she hadn't, but this time it was hard for her not to. Her best friend was too stubborn for her own good. Something wasn't right with her car and if Zoe could tell that, then Aly should have been able to too. But no, she just had to deny it and say that nothing was wrong with it. And then there was her reaction to the whole government thing. Looking back on her conversation with Aly, she almost acted like she was hiding something. If Aly wasn't hiding anything the mention of a guy claiming to be from the government thinking that her car was an alien would have Aly giving her a "are you serious" look, instead she had a look on her face as if she had been caught. Something about it just didn't make sense. Maybe she should just call Aly and try to talk to her. Maybe if she wasn't acting as hostile, Aly might open up and explain everything. Zoe reached in the pocket of her capris to discover that she didn't have her cell with her.

_Crap, how many times has mom told me not to forget to bring my phone with me when I go out somewhere? Guess I'll have to call Alley Cat when I get home._

Zoe stood up and was about to start back to her house right as a midnight blue sports car with purple decaling pulled up in front of her. The driver rolled down the window and gave a small smile to Zoe. She had short bluish-black hair and violet eyes.

"Sorry to startle you," she said, "but I think I'm lost. Maybe you could help me."


	5. Chapter 5

Moonraider watched as the human in front of her took a hesitant step away from her vehicle mode. Clearly the girl wasn't as careless as she had hoped she would be. She had enough sense to know when she shouldn't trust someone or something. Of course that was only going to make Moonraider's job more difficult. She needed to persuade this girl to contact Sector Seven so her plan could move along and she had no time to waste.

"Umm I'm not that great at giving directions. There's a gas station a little ways down the road over there. Maybe someone there could help you?"

"Oh I'm sure you could be of great assistance to me. I'm in a bit of a rush you see," Moonraider said through her holoform.

A small ping on her radar alerted the Decepticon femme of an incoming Autobot. No doubt it was the youngling with his human pet. They certainly wouldn't help her with the human in front of her and if she wanted her plan to move forward, she was just going to have to speed things along. Moonraider deactivated her holoform, noticing the shock that appeared on the human's face when she did so, and transformed into her robot mode. The human tried to back away, but ended up tripping and falling down. Moonraider took a step closer to her and lifted her off the ground up to where she was level with her optics, causing the human to release a scream of pure terror.

"I was hoping that you wouldn't be difficult, but you're proving to be otherwise. An Autobot is approaching and I need to speak with you in private, so you're going to be coming with me," Moonraider said as she transformed back into vehicle mode, this time with the human inside.

As she reactivated her holoform, she also tightly wrapped a seatbelt around the human. After all, she didn't want her to try to escape just yet.

"Now I'm going to ask you a few questions and you are going to answer them truthfully if you want to leave alive. Is that clear?"

A frightened nod was her only response.

"Very well, let's begin. You are Zoe Isabelle Smith, correct?"

"Yes," Zoe answered her voice barely a whisper.

"And you're good friends with Alyson Marie Rose? And she has recently come into possession of a Chevrolet Camaro that you think is possessed?"

"How do you know about that!" Zoe asked in alarm.  _Crap have I been stalked by a freaking robot car thing?_

"I have my ways. Now answer the question!"

"Yes and yes."

"You were approached the other day by a man named Simmons who questioned you about this Camaro?"

"Yes and I told him he was crazy."

"I imagine you've changed your mind now," Moonraider chuckled.

"So Aly's car is an alien?"

"Her car is a Cybertronian just like I am. The only difference between us is that he is an Autobot and I am a Decepticon."

Moonraider was met by silence.

"I'm dreaming aren't I? You're not real and I'm at home in bed fast asleep. Because there is no way that this could really be happening."

"Oh I am very real," Moonraider replied tightening the seatbelt around Zoe's body, causing her to gasp for breath. "And you are going to do exactly what I tell you to do."

"W-why should I? Y-you've kidnapped me, so why should I want to do anything for you?" Zoe struggled to ask. The seatbelt around her was way too tight and was really starting to hurt. She couldn't help but wonder what she had done to have this happen to her.

"Because I know where you live Zoe. I know a lot of things about you. The internet is a very insightful source. I know that your parents are divorced and that you live with your mother. I know that you have a little sister. And I know that you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to any of them or any of your friends, like Aly. Aly is friends with some of my enemies and she is a good target for me and the other Decepticons to hurt the Autobots. So many people I can hurt if you don't do what I say. Now you don't want that to happen, do you Zoe?"

"N-no."

"I thought so. Now you are going to contact Agent Simmons and tell him that you were wrong and that you think that your friend's car really is one of the aliens he's looking for. You are not, under any circumstances, to tell him or anyone else about me. I will know if you do and you will not like what I have in store if you disobey my orders. After that you are to wait for further instructions from me. Understand?"

"Y-yes."

"Good," Moonraider said as she pulled in front of Zoe's house and released the seatbelt.

Zoe wasted no time in jumping out of the car and running inside of her house and into her room. Once she was in the safety of her own room she allowed herself to plop down on her bed and let the few tears of fear drip down her face. What had Aly gotten them mixed up in? Her best friend was friends with aliens and now a government agent and a psycho robot was after her, and it terrified her. She remembered what the robot had said and picked up her cellphone that was lying next to her bed with a trembling hand and punched in the number that Simmons had given her.

"H-hi Agent Simmons?" Zoe gulped trying to calm her nerves. "I think I was wrong about the aliens."

* * *

Aly sighed as she sat on Bumblebee's shoulder outside of the Autobot base. While she and Bumblebee had had no luck in finding Zoe, a quick call to her house told her that Zoe was home and refusing to talk to her. She knew that Bumblebee was getting bored, but she didn't want to be inside of the base where Ironhide was at and she really didn't want to go home and have to tell her parents that she and Zoe were fighting. They would end up asking why and then she would either have to lie to them some more or have to explain that Zoe thought her car was an alien. And right now both options would probably end up blowing up in her face.

"Aly do you want me to take you home?" Bumblebee asked noticing how his human friend wasn't acting like her usual self.

"No, I don't know how to explain why Zoe and I are fighting to my parents and lying is going extremely bad for me lately and I hate doing it."

"I'm sorry that we're making you have to do that Aly. Maybe… maybe we should just leave. We're really making your life more complicated."

"Did you know that a few months ago I used to wish that I had a brother or sister? My parents have been busy lately so I don't see them as much and sometimes Zoe is busy doing stuff with her family so we can't hang out. I wanted a brother or sister so I would have someone to hang out with when everyone else was busy. I don't wish about that anymore. You know why? Because you're close enough to being a brother to me Bumblebee. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's the truth," Aly said.

Bumblebee had to smile at that. Like Aly, he had no siblings, so he liked the thought of having her as a sister.

"But what about having to lie to your parents and you and Zoe fighting? It's because of us that that's happening."

"I know, but like I said, I don't see my parents that much right now and even if you did leave Zoe's probably still going to be mad at me. So you leaving would only leave me alone."

"Okay then I won't leave."

"Good."

The two were silent for a moment before a question popped into Bumblebee's head.

"Hey Aly, how did you and Zoe become friends in the first place?"

"We went to the same daycare when we were little. The two of us decided that we were going to have a band someday, so we were going to be friends forever. The band thing clearly didn't work out, probably because even though Zoe is a pretty rockin' singer, I am a terrible drummer and can't play guitar to save my life," Aly smiled at the memory of her and Zoe having band practice before sighing. "We've never fought like this before. I mean sure we've had a few arguments before, I think most friends do, but she's never refused to talk to me afterwards. I don't know what to do."

"I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Seriously 'Bee, that's all you have for me?"

"Sorry little sister, but I don't know Zoe as well as you do."

"Hey I thought you said that if you were human you might be younger than me, so shouldn't you be the little brother?" Aly grinned.

"I've still been alive longer than you, so I'm the older one. You're just going to have to deal with it."

"Killjoy," she pouted as she noticed it was getting dark out. "Dark already?"

"I guess I should probably be getting you home now," Bumblebee sighed.

"Probably," she agreed. "Getting grounded isn't going to help things any, so we should go."

Bumblebee sat Aly down on the ground before transforming into his vehicle mode and opening the door for her to get in.


	6. Chapter 6

_I'm never going to be able to sleep in late again._

That thought lingered in Aly's mind as she laid in her bed listening to the sound of Bumblebee tapping on her window for the second morning in a row. She knew that she should probably get up and open the window to see what he wanted, but she really didn't want to get up. According to her clock it was six o'clock in the morning. This was even earlier than when he woke her up yesterday! Idly she wondered why he was waking her up now. Yesterday it had been to tell her to go to the beach with Zoe. Aly hoped that whatever Bumblebee wanted, it didn't deal with her at all. She had tried to patch things up with Zoe, but since her best friend wasn't going to talk to her, she was done. Zoe was going to have to be the one to initiate any future attempts at fixing their friendship now. Aly let out a small sigh as she finally crawled out of bed. Ignoring Bumblebee really wasn't a good idea. For one thing he would probably continue tapping on her window for another hour or start calling her cellphone until she answered, and another if she never did answer he would probably think that something bad had happened to her.

"So why am I waking up early today?" she questioned as she opened up the window.

"The new Autobots will be arriving in another hour. I thought that you might want to be there when they arrive, plus Optimus thought it would be a good idea for you to be there as well."

"Oh cool, let me get ready real quick and I'll be right out."

Aly threw on a blue and pink halter top and a pair of denim shorts. As she opened up her door, she glanced down the hall to see that her parents' bedroom door was still closed. Great both of them were still asleep. When she got downstairs she wrote a quick note telling them that she went to hang out with some friends and that she would be back later. With that done she slipped on her favorite pair of boots, grabbed her black jacket, and headed outside.

"So did you find out which Autobots are coming?" Aly asked once she and Bumblebee were on the road towards the Autobot base.

"Not yet, we probably won't know until they land."

"How many do you think there will be?"

"Three or four probably," Bumblebee replied. "That's the usual number we have on individual teams now."

"That's not a lot."

"Cybertron is a dead planet now and everyone is scattered all over the place. It's hard to tell how many of us are left."

"I'm sorry about Cybertron 'Bee."

"It's okay; Earth's our new home now and hopefully we won't lose it."

"Hey mi casa es su casa – I would say my planet is your planet, but I'm not sure how to say planet in Spanish."

"So if anyone wants to kick us off of Earth, you'll speak in our defense?"

"Umm sure, though I'm not sure if anyone would listen to a sixteen year old," Aly said as they arrived outside the Autobot base. Optimus and the others were already outside waiting.

"Hello Alyson, Bumblebee," Optimus greeted as Bumblebee transformed and walked over to them.

Aly returned the greeting before noticing that the Autobot leader was smiling. She thought back and she couldn't remember  _ever_ seeing him smile in the short time she had known the Autobots. It was weird actually seeing something other than the usual stoic expression on his face and she couldn't help but wonder what had him smiling. The puzzled look on Bumblebee's face told her that she wasn't the only one confused, but he apparently figured it out because a few seconds later his look of confusion disappeared.

"She's with them isn't she?" Bumblebee asked looking up at the Autobot leader.

"I believe so."

The human teen nudged Bumblebee's head with her elbow and shot him a look asking who he was talking about. The scout replied with a look that said she would have to wait and see. Sometimes it amazed Aly how quickly she and Bumblebee had learned to read each other's expressions. She turned her attention towards the direction that the Autobots were looking and waited to see the new 'Bots.

It was five minutes later before she saw the faint outline of three cars off in the distance. Once they got a little closer Aly was able to make out a few more details: two of the cars were a silver/gray color and the third was a pinkish color. Aly assumed that the pink one was the "she" that Bumblebee had referred to and watched as the trio transformed in front of them. All three of them paused and looked at her curiously – making Aly feel very uncomfortable – before turning their attention to Optimus.

"Elita, Sideswipe, Jazz welcome to Earth. You remember Ironhide, Ratchet, and Bumblebee."

"What's that thing on 'Bee's shoulder?" Sideswipe asked looking back at Aly again.

"I'm not a thing!"

"Careful Sideswipe, you insult her and she won't shut up," Ironhide grumbled.

"This is our liaison to the human world, Alyson," Optimus introduced. "Bumblebee rescued her from being killed by Starscream and she has since remained our ally."

"It's nice to meet you Alyson, I'm Elita One," Elita smiled bending down slightly so she could see her better.

"It's nice to meet you too," Aly replied.

* * *

Thirty minutes later Aly and Bumblebee were driving around the town. The new Autobots were in a meeting with Optimus and the Autobot leader had told them that it wasn't required for the two of them to attend. Bumblebee had explained to Aly that it was just about laying low and trying to remain undetected, which would be extremely boring, so they had decided to go for a drive instead.

"So are you going to catch me up to speed on the new Autobots?" Aly asked after a few minutes.

"I figured you were going to ask that," Bumblebee replied. "Let's see, I guess I'll start with Jazz. He's one of Optimus' closest friends after Ironhide and Ratchet. He's a really fun guy and I think he's going to love Earth a lot. Sideswipe is a warrior and he has a twin named Sunstreaker. It's weird seeing the two of them apart."

"Why's that?"

"Well twins on Cybertron are pretty rare. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are split spark twins, which means they share half of the same spark. Because of that they're closer than other siblings on Cybertron and it would really hurt one of them if the other died."

"Is Sunstreaker dead?"

"I doubt it, they probably got separated or something, but you'd have to ask Sides to be sure."

"Okay well that leaves Elita, tell me about her."

"Elita is Optimus' sparkmate."

"Sparkmate?"

"In human terms, she would be his wife."

"That's cool, and a little weird. Optimus just never struck me as the type to be married. He just seems so serious all the time."

"Well most of the time he is, but other times he lightens up. Especially around Elita, you'll see for yourself soon enough," Bumblebee said.

"If you say so," Aly shrugged. "Okay new question. If you guys have siblings and married couples, does that mean that you also have parents?"

"Yeah we do, but we call them creators on Cybertron."

"Oh well who are your creators then?"

"I don't really know who my real ones were. We think that they were killed since after a battle Optimus found me all alone. He took me and he and Elita basically adopted me and raised me as their own, so likewise I view them as my creators."

"That was really nice of them. I guess both you and Optimus are glad to have her on Earth now."

"We are," Bumblebee replied in agreement. "I know that Optimus has really missed her a lot."

* * *

Megatron let out a growl as he looked over the report that Soundwave had given him. Apparently one of his soldiers was sending out transmissions to a currently unknown source. Soundwave was currently attempting to locate the source that the transmissions were being sent to and while Megatron had faith that his communications officer would succeed in his task, he wanted to know who was sending them in the first place as soon as possible. This was why he had called for Starscream to meet in in the bridge of the  _Nemesis_. While his Second-in-Command and Air Commander could be traitorous, this work wasn't his – Starscream was much more direct in his attempts to overthrow him. But that didn't mean that Megatron couldn't strike fear in his subordinate to get him to find out who was sending the transmissions.

"You called Lord Megatron?" Starscream asked as he entered the bridge.

"Yes Starscream. Soundwave has informed me that someone aboard this ship is sending out transmissions. Soundwave is currently trying to determine where the transmissions are being sent, but no one seems to know who is sending them out. Are you aware of any of this?"

"Are you insinuating that I'm the one who is doing it!"

"You've betrayed me more than once Starscream, it would stand to reason that you wouldn't hesitate to do it again," Megatron replied taking a step towards the Seeker.

"I've made no attempts on your life for quite a while! After several failures I've decided that I'm better off just waiting for someone else to snuff your spark instead of doing it myself. Agh!" Starscream exclaimed as Megatron backhanded him against a console.

"I am no fool Starscream!" Megatron shouted as he hefted the Seeker back up by one of his wings. "I know that you are not the one sending the transmissions, that's much too clever for you to think it up."

Megatron dug his claws into the wing, causing Starscream to gasp in pain when he snarled at the insult.

"But your remarks towards me are going to cost you. If you do not find whoever is sending out these transmissions and why they are doing it, you'll be the one to receive their punishment. Is that clear?

"What! Lord Megatron that –"

"I said is that clear Starscream?" Megatron growled tightening his grip on the wing.

"Y-yes Lord Megatron."

"Good," Megatron dropped Starscream to the ground and turned to leave the bridge. "You have two Earth days to complete your task."

Starscream watched as Megatron left. How did he get into this mess?

 


End file.
